IMGCAP(1)] Getting past bloggers block
Do you blog regularly? If not, you probably should. It can really help your career by positioning you as a thought leader (however modestly at first), and open doors you may not have even realized were there.
Then again, you probably realize this already you ARE reading Accounting Tomorrow, after all!
So if youre not blogging regularly whether its for your own site, or for somebody elses, its probably because you just havent gotten started yet. I know, I know youre swamped, youve got a million things on your plate, and worst of all youre not sure what to write about!
Thats OK perfectly normal I went through the same thing in my formative blogging years. Heres how I got past that initial case of bloggers block hopefully it can help you get rolling as well.
Setup a blog right now
The secret to getting started is this to get started right now. Not tomorrow, not next week youve got to take action right now. Otherwise, you know what happens you put Starting My Blog on your To Do list and then you get busy. And this gets pushed back, and pushed back, and so on.
Your best course of action would be to navigate over to www.WordPress.com right now do not pass Go, do not collect $200 just go there now. Setup a free blog using their hosting platform it shouldnt take you more than 10 minutes. Dont fret too much about your blog name, or your domain you can always change that afterwards. Not worth spending time on it now.
Alright now that youve got it setup, its time to start writing.
But What Should I Write About?
Anything you want, really - provided:
1. You really like the subject, and youre very passionate about it
2. You can picture another enthusiast wanting to read about this topic
As long as you dig your topic and you believe somebody else might too thats good enough to get started. Just start typing, and dont worry about grammar, punctuation, or anything else. Just get going.
How often should I write?
You should write at least once a week, but Id recommend every day. Theres nothing like doing something every single day to become proficient at it. Youve got to put in a certain number of hours before you can become good at any skill the sooner you can put in those hours, the better.
Between you and me dont worry if you think your writing is not very good when you get started. Mine wasnt either. Nobodys reading your blog anyway yet, so youve got nothing to worry about! Just keep working at it, and eventually, youll start to develop your writing voice a bit. Slowly but surely, things will start to come together.
Wow, I like this post! whats next?
Congratulations! Youve written something that youre proud of. Now, youre starting to get your legs under you, and its time to start sharing your content. You can do this in one of two ways:
1. Point people to the link on your blog (use social media channels like Facebook and Twitter to drive friendly traffic)
2. Approach sites that may be interested in carrying your article as a guest post
After youve got friends reading your posts on your site, Id highly encourage you to look for sites that may be interested in carrying your content. The internet is a very big place, with an unlimited appetite for unique content see where you can get your articles placed, and youll be amazed at the new exposure youll gain.
Onwards
Blogging is a great way to establish your thought leadership and guest blogging is a fantastic way to get in front of new, large audiences. But again, you already knew that
so use the steps we outlined here to get started today.
Brett Owens is chief executive and co-founder of Chrometa, a Sacramento, Calif.-based provider of time-tracking software that records activity in real time. Brett can be reached at 916-254-0260 and brett@chrometa.com.